Snow gliding board with outer face having a transparent protective film and production method

ABSTRACT

A snow gliding board ( 1 ) comprises, in particular, an outer face ( 6 ) formed by a decorative and protective upper assembly, said decorative and protective upper assembly being covered with at least one varnish film on at least its outer surface ( 6 ).  
     The varnish film or films form a set of bosses ( 21, 22 ) protruding from some or all of the outer face ( 6 ) of the snow gliding board ( 1 ).

[0001] The present invention relates to a snow gliding board with anouter face comprising a transparent protective film. The invention alsorelates to a method for producing a snow gliding board having aprotective outer film.

[0002] The finishing of the outer face is an important phase in themanufacture of a snow gliding board, such as an Alpine ski, a snowboard,a monoski, a backcountry ski, a crosscountry ski, etc. The decorativeand protective upper assembly intended to provide both the decorationand upper the protection of the board needs to be of high quality,durable, capable of withstanding external stresses and inexpensive.Specifically, this assembly needs to withstand scratches, UV, coldtemperatures, humidity, cleaning solvents, etc.

[0003] Besides the decorations obtained using various types of colorsand pigmentations, efforts have been made to produce particularlyattractive optical effects on the outer face of the gliding board andits decorative and protective upper assembly.

PRIOR ART

[0004] A first current technique is known for creating decorations onthe outer face of a gliding board, which consists in providing cavitiesand/or protuberances in the part of the injection mold corresponding tothe decorative and protective upper assembly. When the board is beinginjection-molded, or molded, the upper assembly will adapt very exactlyto these cavities and/or protuberances.

[0005] When a molding or injection-molding operation is involved,however, and depending on the choice of the materials constituting theupper assembly, as well as the thickness of this assembly, it is notpossible to obtain arbitrary reliefs on the outer face of the board.This technique is furthermore found to be particularly expensive,because carving the mold is a very high-precision operation. The mold iseconomically viable only after a large production run of injectionmolding or molding. Such a mould is furthermore very difficult to cleanif there are burrs of glue or injection-molding foam.

[0006] Gliding boards are also known which comprise a decoration havingslight reliefs on the outer face, obtained by inserting into the mold anauxiliary piece in the form of a cellular sheet of polymer material,which becomes pressed onto and bonded to the decorative and protectiveupper assembly.

[0007] Such a production method, however, requires precise positioningof the auxiliary piece. Such positioning of a piece will moreover taketime and slow down the ski production line. The auxiliary piece isfurthermore lost, leading to an extra production cost.

[0008] Other methods make it possible to obtain a granular appearance ofthe outer face of a gliding board, especially in the final productionstep, by depositing a layer of lacquer or varnish that contains fillers,consisting of particles or lumps, on the decorative and protective upperassembly of the board.

[0009] The effect obtained with the very fine asperities, however, isnot the most eye-catching for the final user. The size of the lumps islimited, which leads to a fairly fine granular appearance. Lastly, theapplication of the lacquer layer in these methods can only be carriedout with a few specific machines, for example machines involving ascreen, which makes it impossible to use spraying.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] A first problem which the invention proposes to resolve is thatof obtaining a decorated outer face which makes the snow gliding boardparticularly attractive. A second problem is that of creating evocativereliefs reminiscent of the primary function of the board, namely that ofbeing used on snow-covered, cold and/or icy slopes. A third problem isthat of being able to provide a snow gliding board with an outer facethat is further reinforced. A fourth problem is that of developing aneconomical method for producing a snow gliding board, incorporating thedecorative final steps carried out after molding or injection molding.

[0011] A snow gliding board comprises, in particular, an outer faceformed by a decorative and protective upper assembly, said decorativeand protective upper assembly being covered with at least one varnishfilm on at least its outer surface.

[0012] According to a first aspect of the present invention, the varnishfilm or films form a set of bosses protruding from some or all of theouter face of the snow gliding board.

[0013] In other words, the bosses are created only by the varnish orvarnishes that are used. The outer face of the snow gliding board andthe outer surface of the decorative and protective upper assembly areintended to mean the upper areas, that is to say the ones facing upward,which may or may not include the lateral borders and/or the sides.

[0014] Particularly preferably, the set of bosses may form a visiblerelief decoration on the outer face of the snow gliding board, having anappearance of drops and/or streaks. These drops or droplets, and/orthese streaks or trickles, can very spectacularly give an effectsuggesting that a liquid having been sprayed and/or having flowed ontothis outer face of this snow gliding board has frozen. With such anouter face, the user will have the impression that his or her glidingboard has just come out of the freezer. A corresponding image, which isquite analogous, is that of a cocktail glass with frosting obtained onthe rim.

[0015] The bosses belonging to the set of bosses may advantageously bedistributed randomly over some or all of the outer face of the snowgliding board. The bosses belonging to the set of bosses may have aheight substantially lying between 0.2 mm and 1.2 mm. This height maypreferably be substantially equal to 0.5 mm. The set of bosses in theform of drops may have a number of bosses substantially lying between200/dm² and 2000/dm².

[0016] The varnish film or films covering the decorative and protectiveupper assembly may be transparent or translucent, so as to allow thedecoration of said decorative and protective upper assembly to be seen.

[0017] According to a second aspect of the present invention, a methodfor producing a snow gliding board comprising, in particular, an outerface formed by a decorative and protective upper assembly, by molding orinjection molding, furthermore comprises the final steps of:

[0018] preparing the outer surface of the decorative and protectiveupper assembly;

[0019] applying a regular first film of a varnish based on acrylatemonomers and oligomers that cures under UV radiation, having a dryextract substantially lying between 90 and 100, onto the prepared outersurface of the decorative and protective upper assembly;

[0020] curing the first film under UV radiation with a radiated energysubstantially lying between 0.5 J/cm² and 1.5 J/cm²;

[0021] applying a second film, with a thickness substantially lyingbetween 20 μm and 120 μm, of a varnish based on acrylate monomers andoligomers that cures under UV radiation, having a dry extractsubstantially lying between 90 and 100, onto the cured first film byspraying;

[0022] curing the second film under UV radiation with a radiated energysubstantially lying between 1.5 J/cm² and 2 J/cm²;

[0023] so as to obtain a set of bosses protruding from some or all ofthe outer face of the snow gliding board.

[0024] With the method, in other words, the outer face is reinforcedwhile creating attractive reliefs. The step of preparing the outersurface of the decorative and protective upper assembly mayadvantageously be carried out by a graining or sanding operation. Thevarnish based on acrylate monomers and oligomers that cures under UVradiation, of the first film and of the second film, may be a varnishselected from the group comprising, individually or as a mixture,urethane-acrylate, epoxy-acrylate, acrylic-acrylate andpolyester-acrylate varnishes.

[0025] The thickness of the second film may be substantially equal to 40μm. In a first alternative, the streaks may be obtained at the tipbecause of its upward slope. In a second alternative, a step of holdingthe snow gliding board vertical may be inserted between the step ofapplying the second film and the step of curing the second film under UVradiation, so as to obtain bosses in the form of streaks oversubstantially the entire length of the gliding board.

[0026] A step of decorating the outer surface of the decorative andprotective upper assembly may advantageously be inserted, this beingplaced between the step of preparing said outer surface of thedecorative and protective upper assembly and the step of applying thefirst film.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0027] The invention will be clearly understood, and its variousadvantages and different characteristics will become more readilyapparent, from the following description of the nonlimiting exemplaryembodiment with reference to the appended schematic drawings, in which:

[0028]FIG. 1 represents a diagrammatic view of the various final stepsof the method according to the invention for producing a snow glidingboard;

[0029]FIG. 2 represents an enlargement of the detail A in FIG. 1,representing a perspective view of the tip of a first alternativeembodiment of a snow gliding board according to the invention; and

[0030]FIG. 3 represents an enlargement of the detail B in FIG. 1,representing a perspective view of the tail region of a secondalternative embodiment of a snow gliding board according to theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0031] A snow gliding board of a conventional type, such as an Alpineski (1), comprises a front region with a tip (2), a rear region with atail profile (3), a central region referred to as the support region(4), two lateral edges (5), an outer face (6) formed by a protective anddecorative upper assembly, and a lower face forming the gliding surface(7) bounded on either side by the lateral edges (5).

[0032] One method for producing the ski (1) which is commonly employedstarts with the various conventional steps of positioning the differentconstituent pieces in a mould for an operation of molding orinjection-molding a polyurethane foam (these are not described and arenot represented) . The ski (8) is then machined of all its faces, butnot yet decorated.

[0033] According to the method of the invention, the production of theski (1) continues with the preparation of its outer face (9). Thispreparation comprises various steps (I to V) for forming the outer face(6) of the decorative and protective upper assembly.

[0034] A first step (I) starts with preparation of the outer surface (9)of the decorative and protective upper assembly by a sanding operation.This standing is carried out using machines with an abrasive belt,grinders or brushing tools (11). This sanding provides a roughened outersurface (12) of the decorative and protective upper assembly, which isready to undergo the subsequent steps.

[0035] A step (not shown) of decorating the outer surface (12) of thedecorative and protective upper assembly, by screen printing or padprinting, may be inserted at this point.

[0036] In a second step (II), a regular first film of a varnish based onacrylate monomers and oligomers that cures under UV radiation is appliedto the sanded outer surface (12) of the decorative and protective upperassembly. In order to give good results, for example, the varnish is apolyurethane-acrylate sold by Celliose under the brand name Celluve andthe reference 3721 LX. This varnish has a dry extract substantiallylying between 90 and 100.

[0037] This application is carried out using a machine involving ascreen (13) or using a spray gun. Other devices could also be used forapplying the first varnish film. For example, the first film (14) has athickness substantially lying between 60 μm and 100 μm, and preferablyequal to 70 μm.

[0038] In a third step (III), the first film (14) is partially cured byexposing the outer surface of the decorative and protective upperassembly to UV radiation. For example, a UV tunnel from Giardina (16)delivers a radiated energy substantially equal to 0.5 J/cm². Theradiated energy is measured by a UVIMAP detector from EIT.

[0039] An outer surface (17) of the decorative and protective upperassembly is obtained, the first varnish film of which is crosslinked andcured. The outer surface (17) is ready to undergo the subsequent steps.

[0040] In a fourth step (IV), a second film of a varnish based onacrylate monomers and oligomers that cures under UV radiation is appliedby spraying onto the outer surface with the cured first film (17). Inorder to give good results, for example, the varnish is apolyurethane-acrylate sold by Celliose under the brand name Celluve andthe reference 3721 LX. This varnish has a dry extract substantiallylying between 90 and 100.

[0041] This application is carried using a spray gun (18) or byspraying. Other devices could also be used for spray application of thesecond varnish film (19). For example, the second film (19) has athickness substantially equal to 40 μm before its contraction to formbosses.

[0042] In a fifth step (V), the second film (19) is cured by exposingthe outer surface to UV radiation. For example, a UV tunnel fromGiardina (16) delivers a radiated energy substantially equal to 1.5J/cm². The radiated energy is measured by a UVIMAP detector from EIT.

[0043] An outer face (6) of the decorative and protective upper assemblyto UV radiation is obtained, the second varnish film (19) of which iscrosslinked and cured. The two varnish films (14 and 19) covering thedecorative and protective upper assembly are transparent or translucent,so as to make it possible to see the decoration, for example bypigmentation carried out prior to the injection molding, for thedecorative and protective upper assembly. Upon leaving the tunnel, thedecorated ski (1) is finished and has relief bosses (21 and 22) obtainedby localized contractions of the second varnish film (19).

[0044] According to the invention, and in a first alternative embodiment(see FIG. 2), the second and first varnish films covering the decorativeand protective upper assembly form a set of streaks (21) protruding froma part of the outer face (6) corresponding to the tip (2). These streaks(21) are distributed randomly over the tip (2).

[0045] These streaks (21) have a height substantially equal to 0.5 mmand a length substantially lying between 50 mm and 300 mm, preferablysubstantially equal to 100 mm. The number of streaks (21) substantiallylies between 5/dm² and 20/dm², preferably substantially equal to 10/dm².

[0046] In a first variant of this first alternative embodiment, thestreaks (21) are obtained only at the tip (2) because of its naturalslope turned upward relative to the rest of the ski (1).

[0047] In a second variant of this first alternative embodiment, thestreaks (21) are obtained over substantially the entire length of theski (1). For this second variant, the ski (1) is held with its tail (3)pointing downward, preferably substantially vertically, for a fewseconds between the step (IV) of spraying the second film (19) and step(V). The length of the streaks (21) will depend on the time for whichthe ski (1) is held vertical, before the final curing.

[0048] According to the invention, and in a second alternativeembodiment (see FIG. 3), the second and first varnish films covering thedecorative and protective upper assembly form a set of droplets (22)protruding from all of the outer face (6).

[0049] These droplets (22) have a height substantially equal to 0.5 mmand a diameter substantially lying between 1 mm and 8 mm, preferablysubstantially equal to 3 mm. The number of droplets (22) substantiallylies between 200/dm² and 2000/dm², preferably substantially equal to500/dm².

[0050] The present invention is not limited to the embodiments whichhave been described and illustrated. Numerous modifications may be madewithout thereby departing from the scope defined by the context of theset of claims.

[0051] All options for decoration remain available. The outer face (6)of a particular snow gliding board (1) could comprise just streaks (21)or just droplets (22), or both streaks (21) and droplets (22). Anyregions where the streaks (21) and/or droplets (22) are present orabsent on the outer face (6) of a given snow gliding board (1) could beenvisaged, according to the manufacturer's requirements.

1. A snow gliding board comprising, in particular, an outer face (6)formed by a decorative and protective upper assembly, said decorativeand protective upper assembly being covered with at least one varnishfilm on at least its outer surface, wherein the varnish film or films(19) form a set of bosses (21, 22) protruding from some or all of theouter face (6) of the snow gliding board (1).
 2. The gliding board asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the set of bosses form a visible reliefdecoration on the outer face (6) of the snow gliding board (1), havingan appearance of drops (22) or streaks (21), giving an impression that aliquid having been sprayed and/or having flowed onto said outer face (6)of said snow gliding board (1) has frozen.
 3. The snow gliding board asclaimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the bosses (21, 22) belonging to theset of bosses are distributed randomly over some or all of the outerface (6) of the snow gliding board (1).
 4. The snow gliding board asclaimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the bosses (21, 22)belonging to the set of bosses have a height substantially lying between0.2 mm and 1.2 mm, preferably substantially equal to 0.5 mm.
 5. The snowgliding board as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the setof bosses has a number of bosses (21, 22) substantially lying between200/dm² and 2000/dm².
 6. The snow gliding board as claimed in one of thepreceding claims, wherein the varnish film or films (14, 19) coveringthe decorative and protective upper assembly are transparent ortranslucent, so as to allow the decoration of said decorative andprotective upper assembly to be seen.
 7. A method for producing a snowgliding board (1) comprising, in particular, an outer face (6) formed bya decorative and protective upper assembly, by molding or infectionmolding, which furthermore comprises the final steps of: preparing (I)the outer surface (9) of the decorative and protective upper assembly;applying (II) a regular first film (14) of a varnish based on acrylatemonomers and oligomers that cures under UV radiation, having a dryextract substantially lying between 90 and 100, onto the prepared outersurface (12) of the decorative and protective upper assembly; curing(III) the first film (14) under UV radiation with a radiated energysubstantially lying between 0.5 J/cm² and 1.5 J/cm²; applying (IV) asecond film (19), with a thickness substantially lying between 20 μm and120 μm, of a varnish based on acrylate monomers and oligomers that curesunder UV radiation, having a dry extract substantially lying between 90and 100, onto the cured first film by spraying (17); curing (V) thesecond film (19) under UV radiation with a radiated energy substantiallylying between 1.5 J/cm² and 2 J/cm²; so as to obtain a set of bosses(21, 22) protruding from some or all of the outer face (6) of the snowgliding board (1).
 8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the step(I) of preparing the outer surface (9) of the decorative and protectiveupper assembly is carried out by a graining or sanding operation.
 9. Themethod as claimed in claim 7 or 8, wherein the varnish based on acrylatemonomers and oligomers that cures under UV radiation, of the first film(14) and of the second film (19), is a varnish selected from the groupcomprising, individually or as a mixture, urethane-acrylate,epoxy-acrylate, acrylic-acrylate and polyester-acrylate varnishes. 10.The method as claimed in one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the thickness ofthe second film (19) is substantially equal to 40 μm.
 11. The method asclaimed in one of claims 7 to 10, wherein a step of holding the snowgliding board (1) vertical is inserted between the step (IV) of applyingthe second film (19) and the step (V) of curing the second film (19)under UV radiation, so as to obtain bosses in the form of streaks oversubstantially the entire length of the gliding board.
 12. The method asclaimed in one of claims 7 to 11, wherein a step of decorating the outersurface of the decorative and protective upper assembly is insertedbetween the step (I) of preparing said outer surface of the decorativeand protective upper assembly and the step (II) of applying the firstfilm (14).